IN­DIA, NEPAL AGREE TO BOOST TRADE

KATH­MANDU: In what can be seen as a se­ries of steps to mend their ties, In­dia and Nepal on Sat­ur­day agreed to boost trade and eco­nomic links, con­nec­tiv­ity via air, land and wa­ter, peo­ple-to-peo­ple ties, with Prime Min­is­ter Naren­dra Modi declar­ing that In­dia will work like a sherpa in the Hi­malayan na­tion’s devel­op­ment endeavours. A joint state­ment, is­sued a day af­ter Modi and his Nepali coun­ter­part K.P. Sharma Oli held ex­ten­sive bi­lat­eral dis­cus­sions here, said the two lead­ers agreed to main­tain the mo­men­tum gen­er­ated by Oli’s visit to In­dia in April.